Steven Holl Architects has completed a new floor for D. E. Shaw Research in Manhattan. The 3000 square feet redesign for the 32nd floor includes a porous staircase and a glass enclosure which will accommodate a supercomputer designed to execute high-speed simulations of proteins and other biological macromolecules.

As a concept for this project Steven Holl Architects studied soap bubbles and the way they mysteriously nest in clusters that always take the same angle of hexagonal geometry at 120 degrees. These hexagon patterns allow for the most effective connection of bubbles while minimizing the coverage area of the bubble cluster.

Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects have designed the new Wing Luke Asian Museum, scheduled to open on May 31, 2008. The firm’s design preserves and restores the historic fabric of the East Kong Yick Building and offers new and expanded space to the Wing Luke Asian Museum, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate and America’s premier pan-Asian Pacific American museum.

The Wing Luke Asian Museum is a significant addition to Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen’s portfolio of museums and cultural places, which includes an award-winning renovation of Seattle’s Frye Art Museum, the Bellingham Art and Children’s Museum (currently under construction), and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts (currently in design). The new Wing Luke Asian Museum, in Seattle’s Chinatown International District, offers space for community meetings and events, public space for the neighborhood, theatre space for performances and presentations, exhibit spaces for community art and emerging Asian Pacific American artists, family-centered learning environments and leadership development for neighborhood youth.

Lehrer Architects transformed the 7,300-square-foot, 50-year-old warehouse building into a working space of light, air, and transparency.

Although the office would specifically house architects, the firm designed a multi-purpose space that simply and clearly honors the rudiments of work: vast work surfaces, massive natural light, seamless connections to the landscape and fresh air, generous storage, and clearly individuated workstations that add up to a coherent, palpable group.  Immediately drawn into the architecture, the visitor realizes that it is about the beauty of making architecture.

The project just received the 2008 Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture from the national organization of The American Institute of Architects, which was recently announced.

McIntosh Poris Associates remains successful at the Detroit Home Awards, receiving seven honors.  The annual program awarded two of the firm’s projects in a variety of categories — ranging from Best Contemporary Interior Design to Best Residential Architecture — showcasing the firm’s range of talent. 

For the fourth straight year, the Detroit-based firm was among the winners, competing against 545 entries, resulting in a total of 31 wins since the inception of the Detroit Home Awards.

Registration Due: March 7, 2008.

LOS ANGELES—The AIA Los Angeles Chapter encourages any architect who has projects in the Los Angeles area to enter the 2008 AIA/LA Design Awards, NEXT LA Awards, and the Cultural Affairs Commission (CAC) Awards.  All entries will be exhibited to the public, and winners will be announced June 26, 2008, at a gala awards ceremony.  “Los Angeles is fortunate to have an amazing diversity of excellent architecture done by both LA-based firms as well as the international array of architects,” says Nicci Solomons, AIA/LA executive director.  “AIA/LA’s awards programs—known as very competitive—celebrate the architecture of today and the future.”